Hiking

TRACKS & Trails, We Are the Hiker’s Dream

Within the White Mountains area surrounding Pinetop-Lakeside, you will find dozens of hiking trails ranging in difficulty from wheelchair accessible to difficult. The trails edge and wind through Ponderosa pines, junipers, cedars, and grassy meadows, and many offer majestic views of the White Mountains. You will have ample opportunities to view diverse and plentiful wildlife often carousing near the hiking trails, lakes, and streams.

Whether you’re out for an after-dinner walk, or a serious hike, the White Mountains Trail System provides you an idyllic adventure and chance to enjoy our wildlife and beautiful forests.

Hiking the White Mountains Trail System

If on foot is how you enjoy the forests, the White Mountains Trail System has just the ticket. Centered primarily in the Show Low and Pinetop-Lakeside area, there are more than 200 miles of trails (JPG) at an average elevation of 7,000 feet. If you’re a sea-level dweller, our thin air and heights will likely have you feeling breathless and thirsty.

The trail system has been carefully planned. Primary trails are loops, which vary in length and difficulty, and most trails are joined by connector trails, or have shortcuts, providing you a range of choices.

The White Mountains Trail System is for non-motorized use. You are likely to come across fellow hikers, mountain bikers, horseback riders, and, in the snow, cross-country skiers and snowshoers, all sharing the forests’ beauty filled with immensely diverse wildlife.

TRACKS

The trails were originally built and continue to be maintained by a 350+ member volunteer organization (TRACKS) with approval of the U.S. Forest Service. TRACKS works hard to ensure the trails are safe, even for casual hikers. The volunteers have installed white, reflective trail markers every quarter mile on all 200+ miles of trails, and each marker contains its GPS coordinates.

We’re Hikers Too!

Our residents and visitors love Arizona’s White Mountains and Pinetop-Lakeside area trails; we volunteer or work for organizations intent upon preserving and improving the White Mountains trail system. For more information, visit the websites provided here.

TRACKS White Mountain Trail System

TRACKS is dedicated to using, promoting, preserving, and protecting multi-use trails throughout Pinetop-Lakeside and the White Mountains. It strives to support and assist the development, maintenance, and improvement of non-motorized trails, and to provide a resource for education, communication, and social interaction designed to enhance the enjoyment of outdoor experiences on the trails.

Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest

The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, administered as one national forest, encompass more than two million acres of magnificent mountain country in east-central Arizona. The Sitgreaves National Forest was named for Captain Lorenzo Sitgreaves, a government topographical engineer who conducted the first scientific expedition across Arizona in the early 1850s.

Arizona Wildlife Trails

Funding for the Arizona Wildlife Trails project was provided by the Arizona Game and Fish Department Heritage Fund. Supported by Arizona lottery dollars, the Heritage Fund is dedicated to the conservation and enhancement of Arizona’s wildlife, biological diversity, scenic wonders, and environment.